45th / 47th / 48th

IWC Resolutions
1993 / 1995 / 1996

IWC/45/51

RESOLUTION ON JAPANESE COMMUNITY-BASED MINKE WHALING1993
WHEREAS since 1986, Japan has presented documentation on the localised and small-scale
nature of community-based whaling in Japan, and the socio-economic and cultural importance ofwhalemeat production, distribution and consumption in four small coastal whaling communities;
WHEREAS community-based whaling in Japan has many characteristics in common with various
aboriginal/subsistence whaling;
WHEREAS extensive anthropological research has demonstrated that the cessation of minkewhaling in these communities has affected individuals economically, socially, spiritually andculturally, in a manner that threatens the vitality and viability of the communities;
WHEREAS the Commission has considered an action plan containing the essential elements
required to manage a limited harvest of minke whales and distribution of the products for thesefour communities;
WHEREAS the Government of Japan is prepared to give formal assurances that the meat ofminke whales to be taken within the framework of community-based whaling shall not become
the object of any commercial distribution, but rather exclusively for subsistence purposes;
WHEREAS the report of the Scientific Committee allows the conclusion that a small take ofminke whales from the North Pacific is not liable to endanger the stock in question;
WHEREAS the Commission at its 45th Annual Meeting has expressed its sympathy andunderstanding of the socio-economic and cultural needs of the four coastal communities in Japanand the distress to these communities which has resulted from the cessation of minke whaling;
Now THEREFORE:
The International Whaling Commission, at its 45th Annual Meeting, RECOGNISES the socioeconomic and cultural needs of the four small coastal whaling communities in Japan and thedistress to these communities which has resulted from the cessation of minke whaling and,RESOLVES to work expeditiously to alleviate the distress to these communities which has resulted
from the cessation of minke whaling at its next Annual Meeting.

297

IWC Resolution 1995-3

RESOLUTION ON JAPANESE COMMUNITY-BASED MINKE WHALING1995
WHEREAS the International Whaling Commission, at its 45th Annual Meeting adopted aResolution (IWC/45/51) which recognised the socio-economic and cultural needs of the fourcommunity-based whaling communities in Japan and the ongoing distress to these communities
which has resulted from the whaling moratorium,
WHEREAS the Resolution further instructed the Commission “to work expeditiously to alleviate
the distress to these communities which has resulted from the cessation of minke whaling at its
next Annual Meeting,”
WHEREAS the Action Plans tabled in the IWCís 45th and 46th Annual Meetings were rejected
due to alleged commercial elements in the Japanese Community-based Whaling operations,
WHEREAS the Government of Japan tabled an improved Action Plan (IWC/47/SEST1) specifying
administrative arrangements to remove commercial elements from Japanese Community-based
whaling. This was an interim measure taken to alleviate profound social, cultural and dietary
hardships caused by the imposition of the zero quota,
WHEREAS the Action Plan (IWC/47/26) incorporated further suggestions received from membersof the Working Group on Socio-Economic Implication and Small-type Whaling at the 47th Annual
Meeting of the IWC,
WHEREAS Japan requested an interim relief allocation of 50 minke whales at the 47th Annual
Meeting which would be managed in accordance with the Action Plan (IWC/47/26),
WHEREAS Japan proposed a Schedule amendment to insert after Paragraph 13, a new paragraphas follows:“Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 10, the taking of 50 minke whales from theOkhotsk Sea-West Pacific stock of the North Pacific in the 1995 season is permitted inorder to alleviate the hardship in the Community-based Whaling communities,”
WHEREAS this proposal was not adopted by vote due to divergent views expressed by MemberStates,WHEREAS the Action Plan (IWC/47/26) itself was commended by the Member States as a welldocumented and useful tool to manage an interim relief allocation if the allocation is ever given toJapanese Community-based Whaling communities in future, andWHEREAS Japan further revised the Action Plan (IWC/47/46), stipulating that the total quota ofminke whales to be authorised under the Action Plan, if an interim relief allocation is ever given,
would be decided in a future Annual Meeting,
NOW THEREFORE:
The International Whaling Commission, at its 47th Annual Meeting,
RECOGNISES the revised Action Plan (IWC/47/46) as constructive management elements inaccordance with IWC regulations.

298

IWC Resolution 1996-1

RESOLUTION TO RESOLVE THE DISTRESS OF THE JAPANESE SMALL-TYPE
COASTAL WHALING AS COMMUNITY-BASED WHALING
1996
WHEREAS four small coastal communities in Japan have traditionally depended upon whaling
for their cultural, social, dietary and economic needs;
WHEREAS these communities have traditionally engaged in small-type whaling for the Okhotsk
Sea - West Pacific Stock of minke whales which are estimated by the IWC Scientific Committee
to number at least 25,000 animals;
WHEREAS the adverse impacts of the commercial whaling moratorium have been thoroughly
documented since 1986 by international sociologists, anthropologists and economists and acknowledged by the IWC;
WHEREAS the IWC has firmly resolved in Resolution IWC/45/51 to work expeditiously to relieve the distress of the four small coastal communities;
WHEREAS small-type coastal whaling has many characteristics in common with aboriginal/
subsistence whaling and shares the similar traditional, social, religious and cultural aspects;
WHEREAS small-type whaling communities and the Government of Japan have worked diligently for three years to draw up an Action Plan, which would manage the harvest and distribution of all minke whale products from the interim relief allocation of 50 minke whales requestedby the Government of Japan;
WHEREAS the IWC recognised the revised Action Plan (IWC/46/47) as “constructive management elements in accordance with IWC regulations” in the IWC Resolution 1995-3;
WHEREAS the concerns were again expressed about commercial aspects in the Communitybased whaling as is written in the IWC/47/46 at the Technical Committee of the 48th IWC meeting;
NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved to:
1. ADDRESS outstanding issue of commercial aspects found in the community-based whaling asdescribed in IWC/47/46; and2. CONVENE a Workshop on the community-based whaling in the four small communities inJapan to review and identify commercial aspects and socio-economic and cultural needs; theresults and recommendations of the Workshop be reported to an intersessional Working Groupto be held prior to the 49th Annual Meeting.

299

II

Baird’s Beaked Whaling in Wada

Drying whale meat for tare,a local specialty

III

IV

V

Praying for a good harvest ... praying for the future of whaling ...

VI